Gaye fans say Thicke blurred the lines

Wednesday

Aug 21, 2013 at 11:56 AM

If Robin Thicke wants to go around singing about "Blurred Lines," let's begin by pointing out the line he crossed when his love of Marvin Gaye's 1976 hit "Got to Give it Up" led him to copy the song's funky baseline. Then, let's continue by pointing out the line he crossed when he launched a lawsuit against Gaye's estate and Bridgeport Music to prohibit them from a financial settlement from the wildly successful summer hit.

Antionette Kerr

If Robin Thicke wants to go around singing about "Blurred Lines," let's begin by pointing out the line he crossed when his love of Marvin Gaye's 1976 hit "Got to Give it Up" led him to copy the song's funky baseline. Then, let's continue by pointing out the line he crossed when he launched a lawsuit against Gaye's estate and Bridgeport Music to prohibit them from a financial settlement from the wildly successful summer hit. It became even blurrier when the culprits of potential copyright infringement, Thicke, T.I. (Clifford Harris Jr.) and co-songwriter Pharrell Williams filed as plaintiffs. Reporting, "The plaintiffs, who have the utmost respect for and admiration of Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic and their musical legacies, reluctantly file this action in the face of multiple adverse claims from alleged successors in interest to those artists. Defendants continue to insist that plaintiffs' massively successful composition, 'Blurred Lines,' copies 'their' compositions." Say what?Now, those lines are extremely blurry to fans since Thicke hit the talk show circuit earlier this summer crediting his idol, Gaye, for the song's inspiration. So he admits to copying the song, ultimately leaving fans bemused because most of them, myself included, thought the hit "Blurred Lines" was "sampling" from the song "Got to Give it Up," with permission of course. For those less musically adept with the modern generation's lack of originality, I refer you to the Free Encyclopedia definition: "In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a sound recording in a different song or piece." No doubt, people are accustomed to contemporary artists using samples, particularly from the Motown era. Fans aren't judging Thicke and his accomplices for sampling, as they love swaying to those old school beats. The reaction can best be summed up by a friend's thread about the lawsuit, as a number of anti-Thicke responses ultimately led back to the Vanilla Ice controversy. As a side note: I knew it would only be a matter of time until someone compared Robin, son of Canadian comedian/actor Alan Thicke, to Rob Van Winkle. That's right, remember Robin's dad was the father from "Growing Pains." I know we're busy swooning over the guy now, but he was a nerdy-looking little boy, and the more I stare, the more he reminds me of Vanilla Ice. Back to the musical similarities; Vanilla's most famous case of copyright infringement case was centered on his most well-known hip-hop hit "Ice, Ice baby," which sampled "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie. Around the way, we knew that wasn't all he copied. The chorus was sampled from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.'s chant: "Ice, Ice, BabyToo Cold, Too ColdIce, Ice, Baby The Black and Old Gold."I always assumed Vanilla sampled the chant with permission from the fraternity, but I failed to find details regarding a formal acknowledgement or if legal action was even suggested.So this most recent legal move from Thicke strikes a chord with music fans who have watched artists entering the hip-hop, funk and soul arena making mega bucks off sampling and then disrespecting the heritage or tradition behind the music. Thicke's unwillingness to settle with Gaye's estate gives me pause to wonder how much respect he genuinely has for the legend.Perhaps some of us Triad-area folks are overly sensitive about Gaye's legacy. We are coming back from of the National Black Theatre Festival that featured "The Marvin Gaye Story," a musical by the Black Ensemble Theater of Chicago. Presently, the play highlights Marvin's musical genius, his drug addiction and the trouble it caused within his family, which ultimately led to Marvin Jr. being shot to death at age 44 by his own father. For those in the audience, what happened to the Gaye family was a chilling reminder of what America lost April 1, 1984. All we have left is The Prince of Soul's musical legacy. "Blurred Lines" was one of my favorite songs this summer, and the baseline is undoubtedly borrowed, but its lyrics will never compare to those written by Gaye. Maybe fans could see it as a matter that Thicke feels inferior and doesn't want to insult Gaye's heirs with the comparison. Either way, this suit seems to be insulting the legacy of an extraordinary and original artist. So when we hear about Thicke's lawsuit, naturally Gaye fans would say, Boy, "You got to give it up!"Antionette Kerr is a freelance writer. You may email her at kerr@thewritefolks.com.

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